


The Discovery of Love

by talk_less_smilemore



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 23:18:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17907590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talk_less_smilemore/pseuds/talk_less_smilemore
Summary: Cabeswater sometimes doubts its guardians, but they always seem to work things out.





	The Discovery of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Poetry is by George Herbert if you're interested - he lived slightly after Glendower, but it fits well!

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, guilty of dust and sin.

 

 **RONAN**  
Cabeswater has never thought up anybody quite like Ronan Lynch.  
As an individual, he is unique; as a part of something more, he is essential. As a creature, a human, the Greywaren has been pumped so full of emotions and colours and thoughts that he is almost ready to explode at any given moment in time - so it's something of a shock that Lynch never expresses himself in such a way. He never wears anything but black, and there's a permanent greyness about him, as if the whole world is dimmed by the awful moods he works himself into. Cabeswater knows it's difficult for his friends to remember how he used to be before his father died, but deep down, there was always, always something darker about him - in his sense of humour, in his violent tendencies, in his foul language. The bird - Chainsaw - is a creature of misfortune and death created by her master; an omen, if you will, constantly croaking a finite melody from the clouded skies of the terminable, diseased planet that Ronan Lynch has created for himself. The words that the tir e elintes used to sing, in their time, come back to Cabeswater in another language: "I sought thee in a secret cave, and asked if peace were there; a hollow wind did seem to answer, no, go seek elsewhere." It remembers a lot, even from so long ago, and it knows a lot, even from such a new time. It knows that Ronan is a flawed, twisted, secretive thing, with an inclination to hide and lie, and the forest wonders, sometimes, if it has made a mistake in choosing its Greywaren, for how can such a broken character help it in any way?

 **ADAM**  
Then, there is the Magician.  
"I will be your hands," the boy had promised; "I will be your eyes." And yet he strays so far from the path of devotion. There are constant interferences with what Cabeswater wants, what it needs, because of the people Adam Parrish associates himself with: Ronan Lynch, the worst possible influence on any human being; Richard Gansey, who spends all of his time looking for a long-dead king; Blue Sargent, a fiery ball of energy who makes decisions for herself and only herself. Each plays a different role in sustaining Cabeswater, but they were never supposed to mingle; their roles were never supposed to intertwine in such a way. The old druids, they all knew what they had to do - everyone had a set place; the forest was taken care of, in effect, by a smooth machine, not a dysfunctional group of teenagers who probably don't even know what the word 'tradition' means. Adam concentrates too much on things that Cabeswater doesn't determine important - school, friendships, family. Though it tries to understand him, hundreds of years ago, the world worked differently, and this is hard to forget. The only things that mattered were the songs of the guardians and the growth of the forest - "They send us bound to rules of reason... All these fences." Yes, all these fences keeping Parrish from fulfilling Cabeswater's commands: his father, his friends, his conscience. In what way could this boy possibly be the embodiment of a forest?

 **GANSEY**  
Years searching for a fallen king have led Gansey on a selfish road away from Cabeswater. All of his time is devoted to research, research, research, and he never learned to live in the moment, to feel, to experience - which is something that ultimately, being in a forest is all about. Cabeswater thinks that, when it really needs him, Gansey's mind is clouded with other thoughts and opportunities, so he only truly appreciates what life he has left when he's afraid, even though he promises others things are "safe as life." How safe is his life? Perhaps it is a little too safe. The King is a good ruler, but, as the tir e elintes used to sing, his "breast was full of fears and disorder." A good King is not afraid. A good King would rule continents, not three teenagers that he just barely keeps under control.  
Cabeswater misses Glendower. Sometimes, it doubts if Gansey deserves the crown atop his head.

 **BLUE**  
The mirror, finally, is something Cabeswater should take great pride in. Mirrors are deceptive, beautiful creations, and Blue Sargent... Well. Quite possibly the only thing she inherited from her father, apart from the dull remnants of his magic, was his stubbornness. She's a short, impatient creature, with a dripping sarcasm and constant tendency to make mess that sometimes gives Cabeswater a metaphorical headache. She is so much the opposite of what the tir e elintes used to be, but no matter how hard it tries, the forest simply cannot detach itself from her. Her clothing is atrocious, her viewpoints set, so there's no hope of tradition - "when man's sight was dim," the tree-lights sang, "and could see so little..." That was her father's favourite poem, and yet she knows so little of it, so little of him. So little of what is expected of her. Yes, Blue Sargent was different from the beginning. But that doesn't mean she is needed.

 

And yet, Cabeswater is inclined to muse, despite the flaws of these humans, it is still somewhat attached to them, to the odd, quirky way in which they work to satisfy it. The Greywaren, in all his darkness, can dream it a body that is beautifully natural, that is such an obvious contrast to its creator. Adam Parrish, surely, must have something to do with this:  
"Life isn't just sex and drugs and cars," Ronan had told the racer Kavinsky, and when Parrish is about, it isn't. Lynch is softer, quieter. He leaves his darker urges to someone else for a change, and whenever he dreams, talking of somebody who can physically drip goo the colour of an abyss, Ronan's dreams are full of light. There are bucketfuls of gold and sparkling crowns and miles and miles of glistening jewels, so even he himself thinks that maybe, when he is around Adam, he is happier than he lets on. The Greywaren and the Magician are vital to the survival of a world within a world.  
Maybe Ronan is still the person he once was - maybe he has found peace.  
"It prospered strangely," the tree-lights sang, "and did soon disperse through all the earth." And as for Parrish? His work, though slow and inconsistent, is effective, and Cabeswater is more than it once was. It will protect him as much as it can, because, whether it likes it or not, it needs Adam. /We will be great./ Cabeswater promises him as he stresses over another essay, another visit from Ronan, another day gone unproductively. /The tree-lights used to say we will be great./ "The sound of glory ringing in our ears."

Gansey and Blue, too, have an unbreakable bond, in their bickering, in their loving, in their laughing. Gansey might not be the best King, but with time, and with training, he will get there, and it has taken Cabeswater long enough to realise that, because he is more like Glendower than originally anticipated, he needs his friends surrounding him. He is a warm summer's evening; long, peaceful drives; vintage records that fit so well with the Page of Cups, who is emotion, beauty, brightness, intuition, attraction. A refusal to judge. Their songs fit well together, a "favour granting my request." A request for clarity, for ease, for rest, that "that which before was darkened... Vanished away, when Faith did change the scene."

So was it just faith? Cabeswater wonders occasionally. These children have saved it from many things, not just because of their faith, but because of their love. They adore each other. They would do anything for each other. And this is what sets them apart from the druids, from the tir e elintes: the forest fell under a perfect regime of intelligence and severity. It has risen under one based on love.

Love is that liquor sweet and most divine.


End file.
